Page 44 of Kept By the Loan Shark

His criminal history went all the way back to his childhood including an incident in first grade where he had hurt a kindergartner in a way that made my skin crawl. When he was in his early teens, he had gotten into trouble for masturbating in public places and peeping in windows. Once he was in high school, he had learned to hide his crimes and had discovered an entire disgusting and demented online world offering all the terrible films he could ever want. It had fueled something dark and broken inside him until he couldn’t stop himself from acting on those compulsions.

All of those records had been sealed, allowing him to attend college without anyone knowing how dangerous he was. The first girl he had stalked and raped had been a classmate during his undergrad years. She hadn’t been able to see his face, and there wasn’t any DNA evidence so he had gotten away with it. The crime sated his unnatural desires for a while, but as he neared his graduation, the memories weren’t enough to sustain him. He had struck again, choosing a naïve freshman who was easy to manipulate into drinking cocktails he had spiked with date rape drugs.

As a cover, he had perfected the art of being the nice guy. He was friendly and kind, protective and sweet. He had sought the volunteer position at the counseling center to learn how to work vulnerable or inexperienced young women. He learned how to choose the easiest victims, how to gain their trust until they were caught up in his web and completely at his mercy.

Kyle had confessed to kidnapping and killing all of the missing students. The death of the first one, Anna, the girl who had owned the bracelet, had been a mistake. While he was assaulting her, she had broken free of the gag he had shoved in her mouth and tried to scream. He had panicked and strangled her.

From that moment forward, he couldn’t stop thinking about killing other women. He had used the counseling center as a hunting ground. He didn’t bother with alcohol or drugs to make his victims pliable because he wanted them to fight back. He needed their fear. He craved it.

Even now, all these weeks later, I still shuddered when I thought about how close I had been to becoming another victim. That night in the park could have ended so badly. I didn’t even want to think about where he would have thrown my body when he was done. In the gulf like some of his victims? In an abandoned tank battery like the others?

“He can’t hurt anyone else ever again,” Hagen said, as if reading my mind. “He’s done. He’s going to be locked up for the rest of his life. No parole. He’ll be in prison until he dies of old age or someone shanks him in a shower.”

“Hagen, you aren’t…?” I couldn’t even bring myself to say the words. He was connected to the underworld. How easy would it be for him to hire someone to kill Kyle inside prison?

“I don’t have to,” he answered matter-of-factly. “That girl? Anna? The Russian?”

I finally understood what he meant. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Was she…? Was her family connected to people like Kostya?”

He shook his head. “No, but it doesn’t matter. She was one of them. You can’t kill a Russian in this city without ending up in the morgue.”

“Unless you’re another Russian,” I guessed quietly.

He made a grunting sound of agreement. “They play by different rules. The crime families in the city,” he added. “They have a different moral code, but it works.”

Not wanting to talk about Kyle or the mafia any longer, I let Hagen tug me out of bed and into the shower. His soapy hands on my body grounded me in the here and now. All the horrible things that had happened were in the past. Today was a new and beautiful day.

“What’s on the schedule?” Hagen plucked a dark blue Henley from his neatly organized drawer.

“I’m baking pies for tomorrow. You’re brining the turkey and fireproofing the backyard since you’re determined to use that fryer.” I shot him an annoyed look and picked out a comfy oversized plaid shirt to go with my black camisole and leggings. He was so excited to drop a turkey in blazing hot peanut oil. I had seen too many YouTube videos of exploding turkeys and boiling oil fires to share his excitement.

“It will be fine,” he promised, giving my bottom a little smack. “What else do we need to prep? Any side dishes?”

“Taylor and Danny are bringing the stuffing and the sweet potato casserole. I don’t know what Kunal is bringing but whatever it is will be delicious.”

Hagen handed me a pair of festive red and green fluffy socks with nonslip grips on the bottom. Even though my double vision had mostly resolved itself as my brain healed, I still had issues with my peripheral and had moments where my balance wasn’t so great. With all the marble and hardwood in his place, he wasn’t taking any chances that I would fall and had stocked up on barre and yoga socks for me.

“His mom should open a restaurant. I’d invest in it.”

It was an interesting idea, and one I thought Kunal might find worth considering. He was still planning to attend medical school, but it might ease the burden he felt if his mother had a business of her own that could support her and his younger siblings. Then again, restaurants were notoriously hard to run and had high rates of failure.

Hagen sat next to me on the bed. He exchanged the socks in my hand for a poinsettia red envelope sealed with a gold star. Wondering where he had been hiding it, I frowned at him. “I thought we were waiting to exchange gifts until tomorrow morning.”

“We are.” He shifted and hauled my feet onto his lap. “This isn’t a Christmas gift.”

“A really early birthday gift?”

“No.” He slid a sock onto my left foot. “Not an early anniversary gift either.”

Curious, I peeled up the sticker sealing the envelope and withdrew the glossy pamphlets and plane tickets. When my gaze settled on the unmistakable green glow of the aurora borealis over the gorgeous Icelandic countryside, I gasped. “John!”

He grinned as he slipped the other sock on my right foot. “I wanted to give you enough time to shop and pack.”

I looked at the date on our plane tickets. “We’re leaving in four days?”

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